Kickin' It In College
by Kickin'Karate
Summary: Let's go back to Hit the Road Jack, but this time, Jack actually does leave. Kim still gives him her letter, but he doesn't do the same. Without any contact ever since, Jack returns six years later, but things aren't as he remembers them and Kim is dating... Jerry? (Pairings: Kerry, Millie, Jerry/OC, Jack/OC, Kick) Romance, humor,drama,suspense,andhurt/comfort*Happy Valentines Day*
1. CH1: Jack

**So this idea had popped in my mind when I was thinking about Hit the Road Jack. What if Jack had gone to Otai Academy, but didn't come back after four years? Well, this was what I came up with for the prologue.**

** I actually wrote most of this in one night(which is really good for me) so I thought I'd post it and see what you guys think.**

**Their all 20 in this story btw. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kickin' It or any of it's characters. **

* * *

_"The Otai Academy? Dude, that's awesome!" Jerry said as he took the brochure of the Academy from Eddie's hands and skimmed through it. "They even have a make your own waffle station, _shut up_"_

_They were all so happy for Jack, and Rudy was beyond proud of his shining black belt. Why couldn't I be like that? I looked up at Jack's smiling face from my seat on the bench. His face was beaming with happiness. He seemed to notice that I was looking at him and he turned to flash me a smile. I somehow managed to return it without him seeing that it was painfully forced. _

_I was happy for him, it was a big honor to get a scholarship to the Otai Academy, and he deserved it. But I knew that once he left, my heart was going to shatter into a million pieces. Yeah, that's right, Kim Crawford is in love with her best friend, Jack Brewer. So head over heels in love that I can't even deny it any longer. _

_"Hey Kim, what's wrong?" I looked up and saw Jack gazing at me in worry. _

_"Nothing, I was just...thinking" I answered him truthfully. _

_"Okay.." He finally said, slowly, as if debating whether or not leaving it alone was the best thing to do. He then pointed back to the doors with his thumb. "Well, me and the guys are heading over to Falafel Phil's, do you want to come?"_

_I glanced around and noticed that they had already left and it was only me and Jack in the dojo. I lightly shook my head and smiled, saying, "Um, sure, I'll be over in a minute"_

_He nodded and seemed to wait a couple more seconds before he headed out the door. I watched him leave and felt a familiar stinging in the back of my eyes. Geez, Kim. If you can't even handle watching him walk out of the dojo, when you're going to see him tomorrow, how in the world are you going to survive when he actually does leave?_

_I...don't know. _

* * *

_I took my time getting to the dojo that day, as if I could really slow down time with how fast I got there. Jack was supposed to leave at 11 a.m. for the airport and it was now... wait, what time is it? I reached into my pocket to grab my cell phone. My eyes widened and a second later, I groaned. I forgot my fricken' phone! Ugh, it's probably still sitting on the counter in the kitchen, charging. _

_Great. Just great. My day has already gotten off to a wonderful start. _

_Please tell me you could hear the heavy sarcasm in that._

_Anyway, a couple of minutes later, I reached the mall. I swallowed the excess saliva that had suddenly formed in my mouth and touched the envelope that was in my back pocket. I knew that I couldn't tell Jack how I felt about him before he left, I was too scared, but I had the brilliant idea of saying it in a letter. That way, by the time he reads it, he'll be in a plane up some thousand feet already. I knew it was a cowardly thing to do, but if I didn't tell him at all, I wouldn't have been able to take it. _

_It was like people kept loading bricks onto me everyday I hadn't told him, and I was ready for relief. Before I knew it, I had arrived at the dojo. I spotted Jack right outside it, sitting on the bench that wrapped around the palm tree(*). He seemed really engrossed in his phone. I smiled. Perfect. Might as well have a little fun before he leaves. _

_I silently walked behind him and whispered in his ear, "Whatcha doing?" _

_I swear, I scared him so bad that his butt left the seat and he screamed this girly scream. He was up on his feet in a flash, but I barely noticed since I was cracking up. Tears were threatening to spill over by the time I heard him talk._

_"Not funny, Kim!" He said firmly, but the amused smirk on his face counteracted it._

_"Hey, you had it coming since you were so involved with your phone" I said with a giggle, sobering up somewhat. "What were you doing anyway?" I asked curiously. _

_"I've been trying to call you for the past hour!" He said, bringing his phone screen up so I could see it. "Why haven't you answered or even texted me back?" _

_I shot him an apologetic look. "My phone died last night and I left it to charge this morning, but forgot it at home" I explained, sadly. He actually looked really worried. But why would he be worried about me not answering my phone? Maybe it's something else..._

_He sighed in relief and he looked like he was going to say something, but just then, Rudy shot out of the dojo. He looked around and when he spotted us, he ran over with a very panicked look on his face. Jack noticed too and he asked him, "What's wrong, Rudy?"_

_"Someone put the clock back an hour and forgot to move it back" Rudy said briskly and then threw his hands up in the air as he exclaimed, "Dude, we've got thirty minutes to get to the airport!"_

_Mine and Jack's eyes widened to saucers. The airport was nearly twenty minutes from the mall and Jack would need time getting through customs. Rudy began grabbing Jack's suitcases(he had two) as he shouted, "Don't just stand there, come on or you're going to miss your flight!"_

_"Crap" Jack exclaimed and grabbed his carry-on bag before turning to me. "I guess I'll see you in four years?" He asked with a smile, but I could tell it was forced. I smiled sadly at him and wrapped my arms around his waist, pulling him into a hug. He responded immediately by wrapping his arms around my back. _

_"See ya Jack" I said as I hugged him tighter. I didn't care if this was an insanely awkward amount of time to hug, I'm not going to be seeing him until I'm in college, I think I have a right too. Plus, Jack didn't seem to mind. _

_"See ya Kim" He said. We both hugged for a second longer before we heard a car horn and reluctantly pulled away. Rudy yelled something at us but I didn't even hear what he said. _

_I looked up at Jack and forced the tears to stay down. I was _not_ going to cry. He looked at me and something seemed to flash through his eyes. I could have sworn he was going to say something, but h__e gave me an encouraging smile instead, and then made his way to the van. Suddenly, I remembered the letter in my back pocket. _

_I instantly broke into a run to the van just as Rudy was slowly starting to pull away. "WAIT!" I screamed, putting my hands up and flailing them so if he didn't hear me, he would see me. Just as I got near the side of the van, he seemed to notice me and immediately braked, sending himself and Jack forward in their seats a little. _

_Jack opened the door and looked at me in alarm. "What is it, Kim?"_

_I pulled the letter from my back pocket and held it out for him. "I wrote this for you. There's some things you need to know" I said and he grabbed it from my hand, looking ready to open it. "But don't read it until you're on the plane!" I quickly added in panic. He seemed a little disappointed but nodded and put it in his bag nevertheless. _

_"Look Kim, as much as I know Jack would love to stay and chat, we need to go NOW" Rudy said sternly from the drivers seat. _

_"Bye" Jack said with a super cute smile, giving me a little wave with his hand. I smiled at him._

_"Promise me you won't change" It slipped out before I could contain it. But instead of putting a hand over my mouth and blushing like I would have done any other day, I looked at him with big eyes._

_He seemed surprised at what I said, but he still said, "I promise", with a grin. He closed the door and I waved at him as Rudy, not so slowly this time, pulled away. I watched the van until it disappeared from my sight, and then the tears started to trickle down my cheeks. It was slow at first but before I knew it, I had crouched down to the ground with my face in my hands, crying. _

_I could feel people staring at me, probably wondering if I was okay. I wasn't. My best friend, the boy I'm madly in love with, just left for some Academy in Japan and he's going to be gone for four frickin' years, of course I'm not okay!_

_I'm not sure how long I had been there, in that position, but when I felt that hand on my shoulder, I tried to sniff back the tears and stop crying. It didn't work too well since my nose was stuffed up bad. _

_I managed to look up and I saw Jerry, crouching down beside me, just staying there with his hand on my shoulder. He looked back at me and gave me a supportive smile, but didn't say a word. I wrapped my arms around him and he did the same to me, and he let me cry on his shoulder._

_I just had to keep telling myself, it was only for four years. And then, Jack would come back._

* * *

I took a deep breath of the chilly air and pulled my thin jacket closer to my body as I walked down the sidewalk, pushing the memory to the back of my mind. That was when Jack had been accepted into the Otai Academy in Japan. He was only supposed to be gone for four years, but yet six years later, he hasn't shown up. I waited two whole years for him to walk into the dojo and say, 'I'm back!', but he never did.

I had tried to send him letters, as he wasn't allowed to use any electronically device while in the Academy, but he never wrote back. I would have gone to Jack's house and asked his mother where he was, but when I got there, she had moved out. Apparently his mom was able to find a job in Japan and she took it to stay close to her son. Or so I heard from Gracie's mom.

I had tried to convince myself that they were going to move back when his four years were up, and that we would see each other again. For awhile, I _had_ managed to convince myself, but as the days turned into months and the months turned into years, I finally came to terms with the truth. Jack Brewer was not coming back. The only reason I was able to keep from breaking down every time I heard his name or saw a picture of him was because of Jerry. In fact, Jerry stood by my side these past couple of years, always giving me support and just being there when I needed someone. To say I'm grateful for him would be a vast understatement.

He stayed with me, at my side, and that was more than I could have ever asked him to do. I opened the doors to the library, and quickly scanned out the big building for a familiar face. I found him sitting on one of the tables between two bookcases, and I started working my way over to him.

The library was very big, but was divided upon three levels. The second level, where I was, was long and filled with bookcases on the side that led to the rest of the library, and opposite of them were rows of long tables, each with about 10 chairs. The side opposite of the bookcases was lined with tall, narrow windows, each separated by a single column of stone. At each end of the room were big, rounding windows that had angel designs on them.

The room was silent, as I don't think anyone else was in here, so I silently walk up behind him, glad to have seen his back to me when I entered. I look down at the book that was open in his hands. I roll my eyes when I see it was a colorful pop-up book. Seriously? Why is that even in a college library?

He chuckles as he turns the page, messing with the book as he kept opening and closing it, watching as the person kept popping up and folding back down. I smirk as I swoop down and peck his cheek.

"AHHH!" Jerry screams like a girl, visibly shooting a foot off his seat as he throws the book up in the air in surprise.

"Shh!" I hiss as I smack his arm. "It's only me"

He looks at me and then the book came back down and landed on his head, splitting open to cover half of his face.

"Hey" He says with a sheepish smile as pulls the it off his head. I sit down across from him and look at the book.

"So, whatcha reading there?" I ask innocently, though I know exactly what he was reading.

"Uh.." He looks at the book before grabbing it and flinging it somewhere behind him. I faintly heard a 'GAH!' sound come from the same direction. "Nothing" He says, scratching the back of his head as he opens up a textbook. I roll my eyes again, playfully, as I smile.

"You haven't changed a single bit, you know that?" I ask him with a giggle.

"Would you change if you were a swag-daddy?" He counters with a confident smirk as he looks up at me.

"Oh, and when did you become a 'swag-daddy'?" I ask him with a teasing smirk of my own.

"I've always been a swag-daddy Kim," He says, leaning back in his chair and putting an arm along the top of it as he lay his other on the table, "but people started to see me as one when I started going out with the most beautiful girl in the world"

"And who would that be?" I ask, propping myself up on the table and leaning forward toward him.

"Her name starts with a K, and she has soft blonde hair and the richest brown eyes, and," He says as he leans on the table just like me, coming close to my face, "she's right in front of me" He closes the gap between us and I close my eyes as I melt into the kiss. Ever since I spent a lot more time with Jerry during those two years, I had developed feelings for him, and nearly seven months ago, he asked me out. Needless to say, we started dating.

"Ahem" Someone cleared their throat next to us and I pull away to see Milton looking between us with a mixture of what looks to be disgust, annoyance, and amusement. Yeah, I don't know how he pulled it off, but he did.

I close my eyes as I sigh, sitting back in my seat. I heard Jerry mutter things under his breath in Spanish as he did the same. "Yes, Milton?" I ask, looking back up at our dear friend.

"You know, PDA is-" Jerry cut him off with a loud groan.

"Oh would you just give it a rest, Milton?" He asks with an exasperated edge to his voice. Milton shot Jerry a glare and looked ready to say something when his eyes slightly widen and he grabs something from the stack of books he was holding.

"That reminds," He says as he shows Jerry a book. "This is yours" I look at what he was holding and burst out laughing when I see it's the pop-up book from earlier. Jerry smiles.

"Hey, how did you know?" He asks, genuinely curious. Sometimes I wonder how he managed to get into college.

"A little birdie told me" Was Milton's sarcastic response as he rubs the side of his head. He pulls a chair out to sit next to me and sits down, placing his books on the table. He sighs a second later, rubbing his eyes. I place a hand on his shoulder as I give him a concerned look.

"Are you okay, Milton?" I ask. He blinks a couple of times before slumping a little in his chair.

"Fine, I'm just really tired" He says, "I didn't get to bed until 3 this morning and then I had to be at a meeting with the dean at 6 and I've had back to back classes ever since"

"That sounds rough" I comment with sympathy.

"Hey, where's Julie?" Jerry asks, noticing the brunette was nowhere in sight. I look around in surprise. It's not everyday you see Milton not around Julie, those two are nearly inseparable.

"Last time I saw her, she was in the dean's office" I say, remembering going past the office and seeing her sitting in one of the chairs, talking with the dean.

"She told me she got excused for the rest of the day", says Milton. I glance at Jerry in worry.

"I'd better go check on her" I say as I grab my books. "I'll see you guys later"

I walk over and give Jerry a kiss on the cheek before leaving the library and heading back to the dorms. Julie never skips classes or 'excuses' herself so I'm actually a little worried about her. She seemed fine this morning when I left so I wonder what happened.

I got to the my dorm building, and quickly made my way to my dorm room. Me and Julie were lucky enough to be roomies for the semester so if she wasn't in class, she was probably back in her bedroom. I bent down when I got to the door, so I could put the key in. We had the genius idea to put our keys on chains around our necks so we never lost them.

"Julie!" I call out as I walk down the hall that led to her room, D. I called her name again and just as I got to her door, the one on the opposite side, E, opens up.

"Oh, would you please be quiet!" Mikaela, one of my other roomies, whines, still dressed in her black pajama shorts and hot pink tank top. Her dark, dirty blonde hair was disheveled, probably because she just woke up, and her deep blue eyes were half-open.

"Sorry, Mikaela" I apologize with a small smile and knock on Julie's door. Mikaela grumbled something before closing her door. Unlike the rest of us in the dorm room, Mikaela was the only one who had evening classes and she would stay up all night doing assignments, so she usually slept in until the afternoon. Me and her get along well, I consider her my second best girlfriend aside from Julie, and she is super cool. That is, when she's not woken up at 10 in the morning.

Julie's door finally opens, revealing the girl herself in her pajamas. She smiles at me.

"Hey Kim, what are you doing back?" She asks, opening the door so I can come in. I do and take a seat on her desk chair.

"I heard from Milton that you excused yourself for today" I say and then give her a worrisome look. "Are you okay?"

She giggles and sits criss-crossed on her bed. "Relax, Kim, I'm fine. I just feel a little tired today, that's all" She says, shooting me a reassuring smile. Something still didn't seem right, but Julie wasn't one to lie so I just nod. I didn't have another class until three, and I had planned on spending that time in the library studying, but instead I stayed with her and chatted. It wasn't until around 12 did I leave to get something to eat.

"Bring me back a salad from Subway, please!" Julie begged me. So, now I was on my way to the food court. The dorms weren't exactly close to it, which sucked since I have been walking all this morning and walking an addition ten minutes sounded like it would kill me.

I came up by one of the numerous fountains that were littered around the campus and stopped. I look in front of me at the doors to the food court, or more specifically, the sign that was taped to them.

'Closed for cleaning'

Really? They need to completely close it down to clean? UGH! Well, at least this isn't the only place to eat at. I look around and spot a café that looked relatively empty. Me and Julie used to go there a lot when we first got here, but suddenly, we just stopped because our schedules never met up to give us time. I reached the door and went inside, a burst of warm air greeting me.

I look around at the place, remembering why me and Julie had liked it so much. It had big windows in the front which were lined with tables, each with only two chairs, and then along the two side walls were booths. Scattered around the open area in-between the booths and entrance were bigger tables with four chairs around them. The walls were painted a kelly green and apple red and the mahogany wood floors went with the black tables.

All the chairs were a light chestnut brown with different color seats, like burgundy red, sunflower yellow, and royal blue. In the far back was a sunroom where there was a smoothie bar against the wall, lined with bar stools. Across from it were more two-seater tables against the windows. It was actually a really nice, relaxing café.

"Welcome, what would you like?" A girl with shiny red hair and light blue eyes asked me as she stood behind a cash register, sounding as if she wanted to be anywhere but working right now. You know the type of person I'm talking about, right? I look up at the menu to see what sounded good. Tuna melt didn't sound half bad, but it looks like it has onions on it. If there is one thing I cannot stand on a sandwich, it's onions.

"Um, what's on the tuna melt?" I ask, looking back at the girl, who's name tag said Charlene.

"Tuna" She says, looking at something out of the window instead of paying attention to me.

"No, really?" I ask sarcastically. She turns back to me, obviously irritated.

"Look, do you want it or not?" She asks impatiently.

"No, I'll take a Cesar salad" I say just to spite her and she taps a few buttons on the register with a little more force than necessary.

"That'll be 5.24"

"Um, I'm not done" I tell her, and she rolls her eyes. "I want a coconut mango smoothie too"

"Your total is 7.94, cash or credit?" I hand her the money and she gives me back my change. "Thanks, have a nice day"

"Yeah right" I mutter as I go and take a seat in one of the tables by the window to wait for my food. After just sitting there for a couple of minutes, I decide to pull a book out of my bag and engross myself in it. Or at least try to.

"Hi, are you new here?" I hear Charlene ask someone, her tone completely different than when I was ordering. I try to ignore her, but gosh her voice was hard to when it turned nasally with her laugh.

"Oh, you're so funny!" She says with a high-pitched giggle.

"Oh, you're so funny!" I mimicked her giggle and I didn't even have to look over at her to know she was shooting me a dirty look. I smirked. Yeah, I think my day just got a little better.

"I can give you a tour if you want, here's my number" Now I suspect she's talking to a boy by the flirtatious tone in her voice. Man, do I feel sorry for him.

"ORDER NUMBER 14!" Ah yes, finally! Now I can get out of here. I tossed my book back in my bag and slung it over my shoulder before making my way to the counter and grabbing the white bag and my smoothie. I put the straw in it and took a sip as I looked in the bag to make sure it was what I ordered.

Next thing I knew, I went face first into someone so hard that I actually lost my balance and fell backwards onto my butt, making me let go of my smoothie and food. They landed next to me, the smoothie spilling on the floor with it's light yellow colored substance.

"Watch where you're going!" I hiss at the person hotly. Seriously, I'm not invisible, am I?

"I'm sorry, I didn't-Kim?" I instantly froze when I heard his voice. I know that voice, that voice that used to fill me with warmth, that used to calm me down no matter how angry I was; the voice that caused me so much pain. I slowly look up, hoping he was just my imagination and wasn't really there. I always did have a vivid imagination, but not this vivid. My eyes meet with chocolate-brown pools and my heart stops beating.

"J-Jack?" His name came out in a fearful whisper as I look him. He looks just as shocked as me. It seemed to subside quicker for him as slowly his mouth stretches into a grin and he offers his hand to me. I didn't take it, I just stare at him with wide eyes. Did I hit my head or something? Am I still asleep? Is this some twisted nightmare?

"Kim, are you okay?" He asks me, his grin suddenly turning into a worried frown as he goes to place a hand on my shoulder. I smack it away as I finally come back down to earth. "Ki-"

"Don't" I warn him as I shot him a glare. He seems taken back as he pulls away quickly. I shot to my feet, aware that I had to crane my neck to look at his face since the top of my head reached his neck. Just looking into his eyes again made memories flood my head, purposefully bringing a familiar prickling sensation behind my eyes with it. This can't be happening. I took off running out of the café.

"Kim!" I heard him shout my name, but it just made me run even faster. I must be going insane, there is no way he is here! I ran straight back to my dorm room and I nearly kick the door down in my rush. I stop in the middle of the room and l look around before throwing my bag onto the couch across the room. I hadn't zipped it up in the café so books flew out of it, some slamming against the wall. I didn't care. Jack was here. HERE! What's going on? Why is he here? When did he get back? Am I hallucinating or something?

I hear running footsteps closing in on the door and I go deathly quiet, thinking even if I made the tiniest of sounds, he would know I was in here. Something moves out of the corner of my eye and I look to see Julie walking into the living room. She spots me and stops and then takes a glance around before looking at me again, but this time like I was insane or something.

"What are you-" I bolt over to her and slap a hand over her mouth before listening to the footsteps. I don't hear them. Did he go away already? Or did he hear Julie and is waiting to hear something else? My thoughts were answered when the footsteps started to walk away. Phew. I hear muffled sounds and I realize I still have a hand over Julie's mouth. Oops.

"I'm sorry about that Julie" I apologize to her, quickly removing my hand and stepping away. I head into the kitchen to get some water. Maybe it'll flush whatever virus is making me have these Jack hallucinations. Julie follows me and the way she's watching me, I can tell she's waiting for to me explain. "Um, yes Julie?"

"What just happened?" She asks. I pause what I'm doing, debating for a split second on whether I should tell her or not.

"Oh, uh... I woke Mikaela up earlier and if she heard us making noise out here, she would've killed us" I lied, taking a sip of my water. She rolls her eyes.

"Kim, if that was the real reason, you wouldn't have thrown you're books against the wall" She says, making me grip my cup hard enough to turn my knuckles white.

"It's...it's nothing, really" I tell her, not meeting her unbelieving eyes.

"Kim-"

"What happened in here?" I look over to see Mikaela entering the living room, looking around with a bemused look.

"What are you doing still awake?" I ask her, purposefully changing topic. She groans and drapes herself across the chair in our 'living room' (if it could be called that) so that she was laying on the armrests, her head and legs dangling over each side.

"I've got a date in a half hour that I have to get ready for" She says miserably. I go and sit on the couch to the left of the chair, the far left side of the couch almost touching the chair's right armrest. I look over my armrest.

"If you don't want to go, why don't you just cancel it?" I ask her interestedly.

"Because," She breathes out, pulling herself back up and sitting in the chair properly. "he said he was bringing along his friend"

"Okay, you want to go on a date with a guy because he's bringing along his friend?" Julie asks, joining the conversation as she leans against the side of the chair Mikaela's sitting in. The latter nods. Julie shakes her head. "I'm lost, why?"

"Well, you all know Gracie, right?" She asks. Julie and I nod. How could you not know who Gracie is? She was the most popular girl here in the college, and according to some blog that holds polls daily, she's ranked 'hottest' girl for two years straight. But she's also one of those snobby, conceited rich girls. If you do something that she doesn't like, she will remind you that her daddy is the dean and that she has him wrapped around her finger. I swear, just when you think you escape them in high school, they come back to haunt you for four more years.

"She's been showing a new guy around, who I've heard is unbelievably hot, and they were going to have dinner tonight, but this guy told her he was bringing a friend. You're not going to believe how I'm involved" She takes a second to say, and pauses for dramatic effect. Did I mention she likes to be dramatic at times? "Grace asked me to come along for a double-date"

"Shut up, she _asked_ you?" Julie asks, disbelievingly.

"Well, more like demanded" Mikaela responds.

"No offense, but why you?" I ask her curiously.

"Because I'm an enticing, hot, undeniably, g-"

"You were the closest person to her, weren't you?"

"-yeah" She sighs. Julie walks over and sits next to me.

"So, what exactly have you heard about this mystery man?" She asks Mikaela.

"All I know is that he's hot and available" Mikaela says and then smirks, "my type of guy"

I roll my eyes and laugh. Suddenly, there's a knock at the door and I get up to answer it. I open the door to reveal a guy with short blonde hair, spiked up in the front, and light green eyes standing there. He looks up from the keys in his hand and smiles at me. I put a hand up, not giving him a chance to speak.

"Mikaela, right?" I ask with a smirk. He nods and I turn back around to the inside of the room. "Hey Mikaela, you're dates here, you'd better change before I let him in and he sees you without you're makeup" I tell her in a sing-song voice.

A split-second later, she's out of the chair and in her room, locking the door behind her. I look back at the guy and smile.

"She'll be out in a second, you can wait in here if you want" I tell him, opening the door for him to come in. He shakes his head.

"It's okay, I was going to meet Jack down at the lounge with her anyway. Just let her know to come down there when she's done" He says. I nod and close the door. Jack. I _almost_ forgot. How could I have let him slip my mind? I guess not having him around for so long made it so easy to do that. I had forced myself to stop thinking about Jack when I started going out with Jerry.

_Jerry_.

What's he going to say when he finds out Jack's back? I remember how angry he got with Jack when he broke my heart, but to hear that the same Jack is back now.

"Kim!" I shake my head to clear it and look over at the person who had their hand on my shoulder. Julie was looking at me with a worrisome expression. "Are you okay?"

"Fine, why?" I deadpan.

"You have a death grip on the handle" Julie explains, pointing to the door handle that my hand had a vice-grip on. I quickly let go and grab my coat. "Where are you going?" She asks incredulously.

"Outside, I need some air" I say and then leave before she can question me further. I walk around campus, aimlessly. I had finally gotten my life back together after Jack Brewer left, but now, it feels like he's going to make it crumble again.

* * *

**So... what do you think? I'm not sure if I'm really going to continue it or not, but since I'm doing a lot with the Kickin' It wiki and my Youtube channel, I'm not going to be able to update very often if I decide to continue with this. **

**Also, I'm only in high school and they in college in this story so I will apologize in advance if anything is inaccurate, as I am solely going by what I know. So, you're probably thinking, "Why would you do that? Why not just leave them in high school or something?" well, I'm in the mood for a challenge. **

**I want to thank everyone who reviewed my last story, you're guys' reviews were AWESOME! I'm so glad you liked it! :D**

**You+Review= INSPIRATION for me! :D **

**Well? What are you waiting for?**

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	2. CH2: Eddie, Rudy, Joan, and Discoveries

_Previously_

_"Kim!" I shake my head to clear it and look over at the person who had their hand on my shoulder. Julie was looking at me with a worrisome expression. "Are you okay?"_

_"Fine, why?" I deadpan._

_"You have a death grip on the handle" Julie explains, pointing to the door handle that my hand had a vice-grip on. I quickly let go and grab my coat. "Where are you going?" She asks incredulously._

_"Outside, I need some air" I say and then leave before she can question me further. I walk around campus, aimlessly. I had finally gotten my life back together after Jack Brewer left, but now, it feels like he's going to make it crumble again._

**Sorry it's taken me so long to update, I hated my first try at this chapter and ended up having to start again after scrapping it. But, after days of grooming, it's done! And because I feel like it, I think I'll put flashbacks at the beginning of each chapter so that you can get a rough idea of what happened previously(you probably don't need it now, but I do intend of putting a lot more cliffhangers in here!)**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kickin' It. Plain and simple.**

**So, without further ado, chapter 2 of Kickin' It In College: "Eddie, Rudy, Joan, and Discoveries"**

* * *

I take a shaky breath as I sit down on a bench, my legs aching to be relieved. This wasn't supposed to be happening. Why is Jack back? I don't get it. Why leave for an Academy for four years, without contacting you're friends once, and then decide to be gone for an additional two years. Not only that, but to come back and pretend like it's not some big deal?

Okay, I admit, I didn't give him any time to really explain himself. But, I was so shocked, so angry, so happy, so confused, so...everything. There were so many emotions that had gone through me when I saw him, each battling to take the lead, and I just ran instead of choosing one. What was I supposed to do? Tackle him into a hug and kiss until I couldn't breath? I couldn't do that, I'm was too angry at him to even think about getting that close and not doing some kind of harm. And for crying out loud, I'M DATING JERRY.

I could've have sent him flying into a table like I had done to Ricky Weaver when I was in high school, but he probably had some reason for being gone so long and then I would have fe- Oh who am I kidding, there _is_ no good reason for something like that. Geez, why couldn't he have just been some messed up hallucination that my mind thought it would be funny to do to me?!

We were all doing so fine, _I_ was doing so fine without him here. And now... hello Mr. Kicky Kicky Chop Chop.

I smile sadly at the person who flashes across my mind. I miss Joan so much. After Jack left, her and Jerry had become my best friends and me and her always met up at Falafel Phil's to have some girl talk. Of course at that time I had Stacey and Mika, but Joan knew what to say when I needed to hear it the most. She's also the first person who I admitted my feelings for Jack to. Me and her, it was like we had some kind of connection. And I liked that.

It was when Rudy shut down the dojo that I last saw Joan. It was a shock to all of us that Rudy decided to do it too. Milton and Eddie had managed to reach purple belt, and Jerry easily made his way to a black belt. I was still ahead of him though, being a third-degree black belt. It was kinda- no, scratch that- REALLY weird what happened that day.

* * *

_"KIYA!" I flipped Jerry for the third time in a row. He landed on the ground with a 'Ooph" and I crossed my arms. _

_"Looks like I win," I said and smirked, "again"_

_"Dude, not cool" He groaned and turned on his side, facing away from me. I laughed._

_"Jerry, you can't sulk on the mat forever; no matter how hurt you're ego is" I told him. _

_"Ugh, it's not fair!" He whined and flipped on his back so he could flail his arms and legs against the ground, like a five year old throwing a tantrum. "We're both black belts, but I can't even flip you!"_

_"Dude, that's worse than me getting flipped by Marge the lunch lady" Eddie said as he walked over and stood next to me. It went quiet and my face scrunched up as I looked at him._

_"No it's not" I said. Milton then joined the conversation. _

_"In all fairness Jerry, Kim is a third-degree black belt while you're just a first-degree" He pointed out matter-of-factly. I nodded in agreement and looked back at Jerry. He seemed to actually be contemplating something. I know, who would have thought, right? He shot to his feet, having made his decision probably, and grinned. _

_"Okay, I'm going to become a fourth-degree black belt tonight!" He announced excitedly and we just stared at him. _

_"Jerry, you realize that it took me awhile just to get to third-degree? And I'm the most skilled one here ever since..." I trailed off. It's been nearly three years since Jack left and the topic was still a little sensitive. Well, for me mostly. The thick silence seemed to go on forever and I silently sighed, not wanting to go through the same ritual everyday. The same silence has been happening a lot lately. "So, are you ready for another round Jerry?" I asked him energetically, breaking the depressing silence. Energetic. That was far from what I was really feeling. _

_Jerry slowly nodded and we both headed to our places on the mats. Milton and Eddie took a seat on the bench to watch, like they had been doing for the past hour. Suddenly, t__he doors to the dojo flew open and Rudy stormed in with a anxious expression, heading straight for his office. The sudden entrance made all of us pause what we were doing and watch him fly across the room until he disappeared into his office, not saying a word. _

_"Was that...?" Jerry trailed off, pointing at the closed door, his face full of confusion. _

_"Yup. Do you think something happened?" Milton asked as he looked at us all. Eddie shrugged next to him._

_"Maybe Mrs. Applebaum broke up with him" Jerry said, crossing his arms. _

_"Jerry," I said, turning to him with furrowed eyebrows. "Rudy and Mrs. Applebaum broke up over five months ago"_

_"Wait, they did?" Jerry asked, his face full of bemusement. I nodded along with Eddie and Milton._

_"Don't you remember him locking himself in his office and watching Titanic over and over again and eating ice cream?" Eddie questioned Jerry. _

_"I thought that was because his talking toilet stopped flushing" Jerry said, his eyebrows slightly raised. I was about to say something when__ Rudy came busting out of his office, carrying a cardboard box with an assortment of things from his office. He made motion to head straight for the doors, but then he noticed all of our curious gazes on him and he stopped._

_"Oh, uh, hey guys" He said somewhat awkwardly. I walked over to him and gestured to the box in his hands._

_"Gettin' rid of some junk?" I asked him. He seemed to pale slightly before he said anything._

_"No, no, I'm just cleaning out my office of my valuables" He said and then continued to walk to the doors, but then stopped again. I heard a deep sigh escape from him. _

_"Is something wrong, Rudy?" Milton asked worriedly as we all walked and stood behind our sensei. Rudy slowly turned around and placed his box on the ground before looking back at us. _

_"Look guys, yesterday I ran into Bobby Wasabi and he told me he needed a sensei in Taiwan" He said. "And because he considered me one of his best sensei's, he chose me to go and help them out" _

_I grinned. "Rudy that's awesome!"_

_"Yeah, I heard that the dojo in Taiwan is really big and has a lot of students" Milton stated._

_"So, how long will you be gone?" Jerry asked. _

_"That's just it," Rudy said and looked at each of us, "I'm not coming back"_

_"W-Wait, what?" Milton asked, incredulously. _

_"Rudy you can't leave forever, what are we going to do here without you?" Eddie asked sadly. _

_"Yeah, don't you remember the last time you left the dojo? It was horrible, yo" Jerry said. Rudy's eyes seemed to glaze over a little and he walked over to the framed poster of us all doing a flying side kick with 'Wasabi Warriors' in bold, green letters on top. We all followed close behind. _

_"I'm sorry, but it's already been decided. I leave first thing tomorrow morning" He said and reached out to grab the poster when I asked the question I'm sure was on all of our minds._

_"What's going to happen to the dojo?" _

_He stopped midway and closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. I bit down on my bottom lip when he didn't say anything for awhile, and looked at Jerry. He looked at me nervously before turning his attention back to Rudy._

_Finally, Rudy opened his eyes and turned to us. I noticed his eyes were glossy, as if he were trying to retain tears behind a glass wall. _

_"You've all done so well in you're training and you've achieved so much by working hard and never giving up, and.. I couldn't have asked for better students," He begins, filling me with dread. I knew what was coming, "but once I leave, the dojo is closing for good. It was an honor to be you're sensei for the past years, and I'm so proud of all of you. Promise me you'll never forget the Bobby Wasabi code?"_

_He put his feet together and stood up straight as he straightened one hand up and placed his other in a fist on the palm of it. Me, Jerry, Milton, and Eddie did the same__. "We swear by the light of the dragon's eye, to be loyal and honest, and never say die. Wasabi" He gave us another smile, one of both pride and sadness as he took the poster and placed it in his box. We then shared a group hug and shortly after we pulled apart, Rudy left. _

* * *

I could remember that day like it was yesterday. At first we all thought that Rudy was playing a dumb prank on us, and even after we went to the dojo the next day and found it chained lock, we just waited for him to pop out of some bush and say 'Gotcha!' I guess it was to soften the blow when we finally came to terms with reality. Or maybe, if we just believed it hard enough, it would _become_ reality.

Since then, we haven't seen or heard from Rudy, and the dojo had been boarded up. It was hard to believe that it was really closed for good. That dojo was our sanctuary, our place of peace, our _home_. It was where we all fit it, where we all belonged, and it was like a big chunk had been taken from me when it was closed.

First Jack, then Rudy, then Joan, and then the dojo. It's like Jack's departure had been the start of it all. Like he was the board that held all of us above the water, and when he left, it broke and we all fell threw.

I shake my head and wipe the stray tears that had managed to escape. I shouldn't think about it. It's all in the past, and the past shouldn't be dwelled on, right?

"Are you okay, Kim?" I jump at the voice and look up to see Eddie, gazing at me in worry. I force a smile, pushing my thoughts to the back of my mind as he takes a seat next to me.

"I'm fine, just getting some fresh air" I tell him. "So, what are you doing over here?"

Eddie was the only one out of the group that went to a different college. It was nearly four hours away from Seaford so he would try to visit once a week, but with work and school, sometimes we didn't see him for a couple of weeks at a time.

"Actually I have all today and tomorrow free, so I thought I would come see you guys" He explains. "Want to go get some coffee?"

I smile and nod, getting to my feet as I say, "Yeah, sure"

* * *

"So, you wanna tell me why you were crying earlier?" Eddie asks when we find a table in one of the many coffee shops on campus.

"I was just thinking about Rudy and Joan" I tell him, the same sadness I was feeling before leaking through as I mentioned their names. He nods understandingly and it goes silent between us. I was never very close to Eddie, not like I was with Jack or Jerry, but I considered him one of my good friends and because of that, I was left contemplating something. I need to tell someone about Jack's return. If I kept it in like I have been, I'll completely melt down sooner or later, and Eddie seems like the perfect person to tell.

I could've told Julie, but I decided against it. I could've told Mikaela, yet, I couldn't do it. It's not like I was meaning to keep it some secret, I know they'll find out he's here sometime. I guess I was just scared to admit the truth to myself.

"Kim, I know that we're not the closest of friends, but I'm still here if you want to talk about anything" Oh wow, he couldn't have said that at a more perfect time. I look at the sincerity in his eyes and frown. I know I have to tell him, but I don't know if he'll believe me.

"Okay, I'm about to tell you something that is going to sound so hysterically absurd that you're going to think I've gone insane" I say and pause to gauge his reaction. I take a deep breath as I begin, "Jack... he's back"

Eddie nods as he says, "I know"

"Now, I know what you'r-What?" I stare at him dubiously. "How do you know he's back?" I ask, although it came out more as a demand. I only saw Jack today, there's no way Eddie could've seen Jack before that. If he did, he would've told us, wouldn't he have?

"I ran into him like ten minutes before I saw you" He says and his eyebrows furrow as he stares at the drink in his hand, "He was walking with this girl. I think I've seen her before, but I couldn't place her.."

"What? Why didn't you tell me earlier?!" I exclaim in sudden anger, rising out of my seat. He gives me an incredulous look.

"Hey, I should be asking you that!" He retorts, "I was talking with him and he said that you two saw each other this morning"'

"Yeah, but-"

"But nothing. Why didn't you tell me?" He asks, a sliver of hurt in his voice. Maybe because I was too shocked and wanted him to go away? I sigh and place a hand on my forehead.

"Look, I haven't told anyone yet, okay?" I say.

"Why not? Does anyone else know he's back?" He questions, and I shake my head.

"I don't think so, but either way, their going to find out eventually" I tell him, dreadfully. To be honest, I wasn't worried about Julie or Milton, it was mostly Jerry. I wasn't sure how he would react to Jack suddenly coming back, and that scared me. Suddenly, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and I pull it out to see I got a text from Mikaela.

_'Hey, I need 2 talk 2 u. Dorm, NOW.'_

"I need to go" I announce to Eddie and get to my feet before turning back to him. "Don't tell Jerry about Jack, okay?" It wasn't really a question, more like an order. Eddie nods and I say goodbye and leave. I quickly make my way back to the dorm. As I arrive to the room and open the door, I'm already talking.

"What was so important that I had to-" I begin but then stop when I see Mikaela sitting on the couch, talking with the last person I expected to see. Jack. They go quiet, hearing my arrival, and Mikaela jumps to her feet. She walks over to me with an unreadable expression as Jack turns around in the chair and shoots me a smile.

"Hey Kim" He greets me with a little wave of his hand. I look over at my roommate, eyes narrow.

"What is going on?" I demand, pronouncing each word carefully

"Well..." She trails off as she grabs my arm and pulls me into her bedroom, closing the door behind us. She goes and sits down on her bed, motioning for me to do the same. I don't move.

"Now Mikaela, I'm going to ask you in a very calm manner, what, in the name of all that's good, is _he_ doing here?!" I seethe, partially surprising myself it came out as calm as it did.

"Okay, I know you told me about Jack when we become friends and I know how much you really don't want him here, but let me start from the beginning" She says quickly.

"Please"

* * *

_"Ready to go?" The blonde boy, Ryan, asked Mikaela as she appeared in the lounge. She nodded and noticed another guy sitting next to him on the couch. __Ryan noticed her curious gaze and stood up before introducing them. "Oh, uh, Mikaela this is Jack, and Jack this is Mikaela"_

_"Hey" Mikaela said, smiling at Jack. She noted he seemed very familiar for some reason she couldn't place her finger on. He smiled at her, but didn't have a chance to say anything because at that moment, Gracie walked into the lounge and spotted them._

_"JACK!" She exclaimed to get his attention, and he turned to her as she made her way over to the group of three. She smiled at him before turning to Ryan and Mikaela. "You must be Ryan, right? And..." She looked at the brunette and grimaced as she said, "You"_

_Mikaela smiled sugary sweet at her as she remarked sarcastically, "You know Gracie, you just keep getting more delightful everyday"_

_Gracie rolled her hazel eyes and flipped her honey golden hair as she turned back to Jack. "So, are you ready?" She asked him enthusiastically. He nodded and they all headed out the door and started walking to the restaurant they were eating at. It was next to the campus so there wasn't any point in driving, and plus, parking would have been hectic. Even though it wasn't dinner time, it might as well have been._

_Despite the pairings originally being Jack and Gracie and Mikaela with Ryan for seating, Mikaela and Jack found themselves lagging behind the other two as the blondes were too involved with each other to even remember they had invited two other people along. Though unlike the constant conversation between Gracie and Ryan, silence enveloped Jack and Mikaela as they walked side-by-side. _

_"So, are you from Seaford?" Jack asked, deciding it was time the silence got broken._

_"Not really," Mikaela said, "I've been living here ever since I was fourteen, but I'm originally from New York"_

_"Hm cross-country, huh?" He responded, glancing over at her. She raised an eyebrow as she did the same._

_"What about you, are you from Seaford?"_

_"I actually grew up here," He said and then shrugged, "but I left when I was fourteen to go to Japan"_

_"Oh really?" She asked interestedly, "Did you're parents decide to move or something?"_

_He shook his head. "No, I actually got a scholarship to the Otai Academy, but my mom didn't come until a few years later"_

_Mikaela's eyebrows furrowed as she asked, "Isn't the Otai Academy a place where they teach karate?" He nodded. "Huh... I'm not even sure how I knew that. Does that mean you do karate and martial arts then?"_

_"Yup," He said with a smile as he popped the 'p', "I'm actually a black belt"_

_"Shut up, my best friend is a black belt in karate too!" Mikaela said with a grin, "Well, I don't know. Kim used some other name for it... like something dan?"_

_Jack froze in midstep and he turned to her. "Did you just say Kim?" He asked slowly. Mikaela nodded. He shook his head and continued walking._ _'It can't be her, can it?' He wondered.__"By any chance, would her last name be Crawford?"_

_Mikaela went to nod again, but then stopped as her eyes widened __considerably. "Wait, don't tell me... you're Jack as in... Jack Brewer?" She asked him, and physically face palmed when he nodded, "Oh my gosh, I'm so stupid! I knew you're name yet I didn't think it was actually _you_"_

_"Wait, so Kim actually told you about me?" Jack asked, surprise leaking in his voice. _

_"Everything" Mikaela said and then smirked, "You know, she's going to be pretty shocked when she finds out you're here"_

_Jack laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck. "She was when I ran into her in that café this morning" He mumbled. _

_"Wait, you guys already saw each other?" Mikaela asked skeptically. Jack nodded. "She never told me"_

_"She probably thought her mind was playing tricks on her" He said. Just then, they arrived at the restaurant, but before he could even get through the door, Mikaela grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "__What-"_

_"We need to talk" She stated firmly. Jack looked back at Gracie and Ryan as they made their way inside the restaurant._

_"But what about them?" He asked, "They'll notice if we're gone"_

_"Are you kidding me?" Mikaela pointed to the couple, "They wouldn't notice a meteor if it hit them on the head. Now let's go"_

* * *

"That still doesn't explain why he's here" I state to her, slightly impatiently .

"I was getting to that" She says.

* * *

_Mikaela and Jack then headed back to her dorm room. She knew that neither Kim or Julie would be there because Julie had left after Kim for a doctors appointment and Kim had been absent from the room when Mikaela came out. Jenny had been gone the whole day so she wouldn't have been an issue. _

_"So... what do we need to talk about again?" Jack asked as he took a seat on the chair in the room. Mikaela sat down on the couch right next to the chair, and chose to stare at him with a contemplating look instead of answering his question. Finally, after a minute of complete silence, she spoke._

_"Why did you leave?" She asked interestedly. He momentarily shot her a bewildered look before realizing what she was talking about. _

_"I thought you said Kim already told you everything" He said, hoping he wouldn't have to go through explaining everything. _

_"Well, yeah, but I want to hear you're side of it all" She responded, obviously. He stayed quiet for a minute before sighing._

_"Okay well, what parts do you want to know the most? It's kinda a long story" He said. _

_"I want to know why you left" She said quickly, not having to give it a second thought. _

_"I was given a scholarship to one of the best karate academies in the world" He replied with a shrug. She shook her head, not satisfied with his answer._

_"No, I know that, but- okay let me rephrase it. Why did you leave when you knew it was going to mean not seeing you're friends or Kim for four years?" She asked. "I mean, I know that Kim and you were best friends and it must have been equally __hard on both of you. Personally, I wouldn't have left"_

_Jack looked down at his shoes as his eyebrows knitted together. "I didn't fight it" He finally said after a couple of seconds of silence. The simple statement puzzled Mikaela, but then he continued, "Everyone was so happy for me and telling me to go, even though I wasn't sure I really wanted to, and Rudy was in tears with pride. The honor it would bring to the dojo that one of it's students had trained at the Otai Academy was what made me accept the offer. I was still doubtful, but I just masked under happiness"_

_"Didn't anyone try to talk you out of it?" Mikaela asked. Jack shook his head._

_"They asked me a couple of times if I really wanted to go, and I told them I did. I still don't even know why I did" Jack then looked up at Mikaela. "Do you know that the day I left, I was worried that Kim wasn't going to be there. After I said goodbye to the guys, I waited outside on the bench, texting her to see where she was. She never texted back. It wasn't until about fifteen minutes before I had to leave that she finally showed up. I remember being so relieved to know that I would be able to say goodbye to her in person and see her one last time before I left"_

_Mikaela nodded as it all sank in. "Now, there's really only one thing I want to know now" She told him as she looked at him with a serious expression. He nodded for her to continue, and she did, asking, "What happened these past six years?"_

_"That's a long story" He commented as he shifted in his seat. She shrugged._

_"I don't have class for another three hours so, I've got time" She said and waited silently for him to start. He stayed quiet for a minute, trying to figure out where to start. _

_"Six years ago, when I got to the Otai Academy, I had to go through rigorous training for the first couple of months and then I went through a series of tests that lasted for nearly seven months for them to determine my every weak point as well as my strong ones. During those times, I wasn't allowed any contact with anyone outside of the Academy," He begins, "it wasn't until a year after did I get a letter from the dojo. One thing that puzzles me to this day is that, they sent it two weeks after I left and it wouldn't have taken it more than a year to get to Japan_

_"Well, five months later, during one of our daily practices, I slipped and hit my head. I was taken to the hospital and I fell into a coma for nearly three months. Apparently I had hit just the right spot on my head. Anyway, when I woke up, they discovered I had amnesia and I didn't remember anything, except for karate, or anyone before I woke up in the hospital bed. When my mom heard, she flew out to Japan and stayed with me for a couple of weeks, trying to get my memory back. Well, it didn't work so well and the doctor told her there was a chance that I wouldn't be getting my memory back for a long time, or it might never return_

_"My mom then decided to move out and get a job in Japan so that she could be close to me to help me get my memory back. Truthfully, my memory didn't return until I left the Otai Academy. But since my mom had sold our house in Seaford, we stayed in Japan" He finished __explaining. Mikaela let it all sink in before she said anything._

_"So, when did you get back to Seaford?" She asked. _

_"I've been here for a month now" He responded and then got this far away look in his eyes as he continued, "You know, I considered not coming back. But one day when I was going through my stuff, I found a letter that Kim wrote to me just before I left. It was at that moment that I realized I couldn't stay in Japan. I had to come back. So, for the last couple of years, I've been working odd jobs to earn enough money to come here to Seaford University" _

_"What was in the letter?" Mikaela asked curiously. He smirked._

_"Just some things that I should've seen a long time ago" Was all he said._

* * *

I stare at her, eyes wide beyond the size of plates as I remain silent. I...what... is that what really happened?

"But instead of hearing it from me, you need to hear it from him to really believe it, right?" She asks, though she didn't wait for an answer as she stood up and walked out the door. Once she leaves, I sit down on the edge of her bed. A second later, I hear someone walk in and close the door behind them, but it didn't take me long to realize it wasn't Mikaela.

"You knew I was here, didn't you? And that's why you worked so hard to get in" I state, my voice void of emotion. I look up and see Jack standing in the middle of the room, gazing at me. He nods and I shake my head. "I don't get it. Why did you look so surprised when we ran into each other at the café this morning then?"

"I hadn't expected to see you so soon I guess" He says with a slight chuckle. Okay, I can see why I never heard from him during the four years he was at the Otai Academy, but that doesn't explain the other two years after he got out.

"Jack," I say as I turn to him, "why didn't you contact me in the last two years?"

"My mom forgot my cellphone in our house when she left and I couldn't remember you're phone number. Once I got back, I tried you're house several times, but nobody answered" He explains to me.

Suddenly, everything made sense. I had known Jack wasn't one to not contact his friends without a good reason, but I guess because I was hurt and angry, I never realized it. All of a sudden, remorse fills me and I frown. He had a reasonable explanation for what happened these past six years, but yet I was too wrapped up in wanting to be furious at him that I never gave him a real chance to tell me it. I groan loudly, immediately putting my face in my hands as I prop my elbows up on my knees.

"Thanks a lot, now I feel bad for being so mad at you" I tell him. I felt the bed shift as he sits down next to me.

"You were mad at me?" He asks. I look up at him, a bit disbelievingly.

"Of course I was! You left for six years and didn't once contact any of us, wouldn't you be?" I ask him.

"Point taken" He says and it goes silent as we both turn back to looking at the ground. After a couple of minutes, I sigh.

"I forgive you," I tell him and I feel his gaze on me as I continue, "but it'll take me awhile to really get over what happened"

"I understand, but Kim look at me" I did. "I know our friendship will never be the same because of that, but I'm not going to ever do that again, okay? You're going to have to get used to seeing my face everyday because I'm not going anywhere" He says with a smirk, but I still saw the sincerity in his eyes, and that made me crack a smile.

I wrap my arms around his waist, pulling him into a tight hug as I say, "You have no idea how much I've missed you"

"I can imagine" He remarks as he hugs back and I nearly gasp in surprise when I feel something like electricity course through me. I had forgetting how much of an affect Jack had on me. We pull apart and he shoots me a grin as he says, "I can't wait to surprise everyone else, their reactions are going to be priceless. Hey, is Rudy still in the dojo? He's going to flip when he's sees how much progress I've made"

"Rudy isn't there anymore," I say, frowning as I continue, "he moved to Taiwan"

He looks at me and blinks. "Say what, now?"

I nod. "Bobby Wasabi transferred him to his dojo in Taiwan to teach" I say and he gives me a skeptical look.

"There's no way Rudy would take a job that has him leave Seaford, I mean, he loves this place!" He says. I half shrug.

"Well, he took the job and left nearly three years after you left for the Otai Academy" I tell him. Jack shakes his head, as if not able to comprehend something.

"Wait, what about the dojo then? Who did he get replaced by?"

"No one replaced him, Jack," I say dejectedly as I look down, feeling a prickling sensation in the back of my eyes, "the dojo was closed down for good"

He was silent for awhile, and I had to glance up to make sure he's still in front of me. He is, but he's looking at the closet opposite of the bed. I know he isn't actually seeing it though.

"I never thought that dojo would ever close" He comments, a mixture of surprise and disappointment .

"It was a shock to all of us" I say and pause, "but thanks to Rudy, we all made a lot of progress"

"Oh really?" He asks, turning back to me. I nod.

"Yeah, Milton and Eddie both got to purple belts," I tell him, making him laugh. 'I could never get tired of hearing that' I think as I smile.

"Okay, I take back what I said earlier. I never thought that Milton and Eddie would get past yellow belt"

I laugh too. "It surprised me too, but it wasn't just Milton and Eddie. Jerry got to _Shodan_ black belt"

He grins and nudges me a little. "I'll bet he still can't take you down"

"He tries," I say with a half shrug, smirking.

"What about you?" He asks. I smile smugly.

"You're looking at a _Sandan_ black belt" I tell him, bringing my hand up and pretending to look at my nails. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him shake his head. I give him a baffled look. "What?"

"It would have been better if you were a _Godan_ black belt, that way, you would stand a chance if we sparred again" He remarks a bit cockily, and my mouth drops.

"Oh, is that a challenge I hear?" I ask him, the corners of my mouth curving up. He shrugs and smirks.

"Depends, are you accepting?" He asks in return.

"I'm gonna take you down, Brewer" I say casually as I get off the bed and head out to the living room where there would be enough room to spar. For nearly thirty minutes, me and Jack were sparring in the living room and for just that time, everything melted away.

We were fourteen again and back in the dojo, without a care in the world. It was what I needed today. Just some normality, some of what we used to have. But I was pulled all too quickly from my dreamland when my back collides with the ground. I look up to see Jack hovering over me, his hands pinning my wrists above my head. We didn't say anything as we stare into each others eyes, panting lightly. I was surprised at how quickly I got lost in his chocolatey-brown eyes, but I was saved as Jack clears his throat and gets to his feet, looking away from me.

I rise to my feet too and eye him interestedly as he starts to speak.

"There is one thing that I never told you" He says, rubbing the back of his neck, "do you remember that letter you gave me before I left for the airport?"

The room suddenly got smaller and I gulp, my throat dry all of a sudden. I completely forgot about that. "What about it?" I ask him nervously.

"Well, I wanted to tell you that-"

"Jack, there's something I need to tell you before you say anything" I quickly tell him, cutting him off.

"Okay, what is it?" He asks, his face filled with bewilderment. I don't say anything as I bite down on my bottom lip. Now that I think about it... how should I tell him? It's gotta be done in delicately, right?

"I'm dating Jerry now"

"...What?" _Real delicate Kim._

* * *

**CLIFF-HANGER! WOOT! ...anyways... **

**Since I had to look these up, I'll tell those of you who don't know what they are either: A Shodan black belt is a first-degree black belt while a Sandan is third-degree, and a Godan is fifth-degree. **

**I had really bad writers block for this chapter and I'm in a hotel now that doesn't get good internet AT ALL so I'm not sure when I'll have the next chapter up, but I'm am determined to finish this story so there will be an update! (Crowd: YAY!) Oh and sorry if it seemed rushed or anything. This is actually an award winning piece compared to my first attempt xD Anyway, I'll try not to do it again for future chapters. **

**By ****the way, did you guys see KIOOO yet? I knew right when Brett came into the picture something was gonna happen, but the ending still blew me away. I was squealing and doing happy dances everywhere! xD**

**It's about time, am I right?! Tell me what you thought of the episode in the reviews because I like hearing how other people reacted to it as well xD But keep in mind, I'm not forcing you...yet (JK)**

**You+Review= INSPIRATION for me :D**

**Well? What are you waiting for?**

**V**

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	3. IMPORTANT AUTHOR NOTE!

**I don't want to put this up now, but I need to let you guys know. I know, I know, I probably got you're hopes up, but don't worry, chapter 3 is more than halfway done. That's kinda what I was going to talk about too.. **

**I'm moving into a house tomorrow and it doesn't have internet set up yet, so I won't be able to work on this story as much as I'd like to. I might be able to get on a library computer but I'm not too sure. Anyway, I just wanted to let you guys know that I won't be able to update this until I get internet(which could be really soon, I don't know) ****  
**

**But as a treat for having you guys stick with me through these long waits, I plan on getting chapter 4 up really soon after I do chapter 3 :D I'm going to try harder not to make you guys wait a month for each chapter, so hopefully you'll be patient with me through this :)**

**Oh, before I forget- check out my new poll on my profile. Chapter 3 is kinda going to be like a turning point for this story and because each chapter is so long, I don't plan on making this a real long story either, so I have a poll for you to vote what story and one-shot you want me to write after I finish Kickin' It In College. :)**

**Thanks to those who stick with ****this story, and to all of you who have favorite, followed, and reviewed this story so far. It all means the world to me! :D**

**Sincerely, **

**Kickin'Karate (KK) **


	4. CH3: Being friends again

**Okay, I am sorry to make you guys wait so freakin' long for this chapter( and for getting you're hopes up on that A/N) and I'm going to really try harder not to make you guys wait so long for each chapter. It's just with writers block, a busy schedule, crappy internet, and then putting Christmas on top of it all... ugh.**

**Oh yeah, if you guys haven't noticed, I've got internet! (Cue the cheering) Yup, turns out I'll have access to the internet until January 6. After that, I'm not sure. But that's plenty of time for me to upload two more chapters, right? Well, that's my goal.**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter :) (Btw, sorry for any misspellings or grammar mistakes in this.. I didn't really go back through it)**

* * *

_Previously...  
_

_"There is one thing that I never told you" He says, rubbing the back of his neck, "do you remember that letter you gave me before I left for the airport?"_

_The room suddenly got smaller and I gulp, my throat dry all of a sudden. I completely forgot about that. "What about it?" I ask him nervously._

_"Well, I wanted to tell you that-"_

_"Jack, there's something I need to tell you before you say anything" I quickly tell him, cutting him off._

_"Okay, what is it?" He asks, his face filled with bewilderment. I don't say anything as I bite down on my bottom lip. Now that I think about it... how should I tell him? It's gotta be done in delicately, right?_

_"I'm dating Jerry now"_

_"...What?" Real delicate Kim._

* * *

"Um... Jack?" I bite down on my lip. He was quiet. Too quiet. And there was this unreadable emotion that kept flashing across his face that I couldn't figure out. He just stood there, his eyes locked on me in this impenetrable gaze. I look everywhere but at him. This silence was getting _very_ uncomfortable. Well, what did you expect Kim? He was probably about to tell you his feelings, and you completely cut him off by saying you were DATING JERRY. I mentally groan. I know what I did, and it slipped out before I knew it. It didn't even process through my brain before it left my mouth!

Ugh, I just have a knack for making situations worse, don't I? Suddenly, Jack starts to speak and the sound scares me out of my thoughts. Actually, it was the lack of emotion in his voice that really scared me.

"When..."

When did this happen? Not too long ago actually. I like Jerry, he likes me, and you weren't around. I CAN'T SAY THAT! I look up at him cautiously, vaguely noting that he had a good foot on me.

"We've been dating for seven months now" I say. Confusion seems to ripple through his brown eyes.

"But I thought you..." He trails off.. again. Yeah, I _did_, but not anymore.

"Look, I know what I wrote in that letter, but that was then" I tell him, "I don't feel the same way anymore"

He's quiet for the longest time, like it was taking him time to analyze what I just said, but then he starts to mumble something. I couldn't make out even a word.

"What?" I ask, though it came out more as a whisper. After a moment of silence, he shakes his head a little and looks at me with a smile.

"Nothing," He pauses, "I'm happy for you guys"

Did he just grow two heads? "You are?" I ask, downright puzzled. I could've sworn he would've been, I don't know, at least a little heartbroken. I... guess I was wrong. Maybe Jack hadn't liked me all those years.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" He asks cheerfully. At the sound, I felt like relief washed over me. But it was like the well ran dry when I finally look into his eyes. I'm surprised I didn't see it earlier. Those once chocolatey-brown pools of his have turned to a solid brown color, blocking me from seeing anything he's feeling right now. "Listen Kim, I've gotta go meet Eddie" He tells me as he glances down at the black watch on his wrist.

"Jack-" I begin softly, but he interrupts me.

"Uh, I'll see you later" He quickly says and makes his way over to the door in record time. He doesn't even glance back as he darts out the door. I stand there, rooted to the spot, not able to tear my eyes away from the door. I wonder how much better that could've gone if I held off on telling him I was dating Jerry. He didn't really give me a choice when he started talking about that letter though.

_But what if he was telling you that he didn't feel the same way, Kim? Hm?_ Maybe, but something tells me that wasn't what he was going to say.

I'm pulled out of my thoughts when the door opens and Mikaela walks in. She closes the door behind her, muttering something but the only words I could catch were "rush" "kill" and "fault". She sees me and gives me a questioning look as she jabs a thumb back at the door, asking, "Is there any reason I was nearly tackled out there by Jack?"

"He, uh, was in a rush to meet Eddie" I deadpan, heading over and sitting on the couch. Her face scrunches up slightly.

"Who's Eddie?"

Oh, right... I haven't quite told her about all of our friends. She's never been around when Eddie came and visited either. "He's an old friend like Jerry and Milton" I explain.

"Oh" She sits down on the chair next to me and is quiet for a moment or two before turning and looking at me, giving me both a interested and worried look.

"Kim, did something happen between you and Jack while I was gone?" She asks me. I give a somewhat frustrated sigh.

"All I did was tell him I'm dating Jerry now" I say, "and then he bolted out the door"

"That explains it" I hear her mumble, "I'm guessing he didn't take it well"

I scoff. "No, he took it just fine. What do you think?"

"Hey, don't snap at me! I wasn't the one who told him to come back to Seaford" She says, defensively.

"I know" I half moan, half sigh, letting my face fall into my hands, "Today's just been a long day"

She nods in understanding and places a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm sure tomorrow will be better," She says, probably hoping it would help. It didn't. I saw her glance at the clock out of the corner of my eye. "Hey, I need to get to class, but call me if you need anything, okay?" I nod and listen as she starts to walk away, but then stops.

"Look, Kim, I'm sorry if I just pushed you into fire earlier with Jack. I was just so focused on you two finally pushing things into the past and being friends again that I didn't respect that you two would need time to smooth things over" She apologizes, sincerity thick in her voice. I look up and give her a smile along with a shake of my head.

"Don't worry about. It was going to happen sooner or later" I tell her. I was rather hoping it would be _very _later though. She smiles and goes to grab her back, but stops midway.

"Oh, and Kim," She says, turning back to me, a worried expression on her face, "get some sleep, you look really tired"

I nod and she leaves. "Don't have to tell me twice" I mumble after she's gone, heading straight to the bathroom. Today has been beyond stressful and I don't know how well tomorrow will be, but I do know that I'm exhausted and once my head hits the pillow, I'm out like a light.

* * *

One minute, I'm dreaming about covering a big story for Kick Magazine on Miley Cyrus' divorce, and the next, I'm being pulled to reality by something warm on my lips.

Instinctively, I respond and a low chuckle that I know well echoes in my ear. Slowly, I open my eyes as he pulls away and I blink a couple of times to clear my vision. Jerry. I smile as I prop myself up on my elbow and turn to him, glancing at the clock in the process. 9 a.m.

"What are you doing here so early?" I ask him curiously. Usually I don't see Jerry 'till around lunch time due to our different schedules. He shrugs.

"I figured I would come see my chica," He says with a little smile, "Is that a problem?" I shake my head as my own smile widens.

"Never"

"So, did you have a good dream?" He asks, putting his hands in the pockets of his jeans. I half shrug, only able to move one shoulder.

"I had a dream about covering a big story for-" I was momentarily cut off by an abrupt yawn, "some magazine called Kick"

Something flashes across his face at the mention of 'kick', but it's gone and replaced with an amused look as quickly as it appeared. "Kick?" He asks with a smirk, "Where did that come from?"

"I have absolutely no idea... maybe it has something to do with my love for karate" He nods.

"That makes sense. Well, it's Saturday and neither of us have class so I thought we could go somewhere" He says off-topic, smiling slyly. I sit up in my bed and eye him as he rocks on the balls of his feet.

"What did you have in mind?" I ask him with a light giggle. I know by that look that he's already got something planned, but as to what, that remains a mystery...especially with Jerry. His smile widens.

"Just get dressed and meet me down in the east parking lot when you're done" He tells me before giving me a kiss on the cheek and leaving. Once I hear the front door shut, I jump out of bed and head over to my closet, excitement pulsing through me. It's been a little while since me and Jerry have gone on a date, mostly because we've been really busy with school work.

"Going somewhere?"

I pivot on the balls of my feet at the voice and see Julie standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe with a coat on and books in her arms. "Yeah, Jerry's taking me someplace today" I tell her excitedly, turning back to my closet.

"Any idea where?"

"Nope" I say, popping the 'p'. Suddenly, a question strikes me and I turn back to her. "Hey, where were you yesterday?" I ask interestedly. She frowns slightly.

"I had to go to the doctor. I was feeling really dizzy and decided to get checked out," She says, "all they said was that I was probably really dehydrated and I had to spend the day with an I.V in my arm"

"Are you feeling better today?" I stop fiddling around with my clothes and ask her, looking at her in worry. She smiles and nods.

"Yup, a lot better" She says cheerily and then glances at her watch, "I need to get to class, but hey, have fun"

I got dressed rather quickly once she left and was out the door in less than fifteen minutes. I didn't feel like doing anything with my hair so I left it down and I only applied a little makeup. I don't really care what people think of me, but I still like to look somewhat presentable. Eventually I made it out to Jerry's car, which was a slick black Ford Mustang, and got into the red passenger seat. He starts the car and in no time, we're on the road, heading to who-knows-where. Well actually, Jerry knows, but he refuses to tell me or even give me a hint.

"Oh come on, I don't like surprises!" I say with a slight whine as I look over at him. He glances at me out of the corner of his eyes and smirks.

"Don't worry, we'll be there in no time mamacita" He tells me. I stick my bottom lip out in a pout and sit back in my seat, crossing my arms with a small huff. He laughs as he says, "Yo, that's not going to make me tell you"

"I know" I moan, letting my hands fall into my lap as my arms go limp. The car goes into a comfortable silence, leaving me to my thoughts. I look out the window and watch as the streets of Seaford go by. It was amazing how many good memories I had here. I remember one day when me and Jack had gone to the skate park early in the morning and just talked until we had to go to school. I smile as I think about it. I had been having a pretty lousy week and that talk did more than lift my mood, it gave me a smile that lasted for a couple of days.

The funny thing is, we didn't talk about anything in particular. We kept switching topics and surprisingly, we never ran out of things to say.

"Thinking?" Jerry's curious voice brings me out of my reminiscing and I turn to him with a half smile.

"Yeah" I quietly say and he squeezes my hand. The rest of the car ride was silent and I had to force back the memories of Jack that kept wanting to flood my mind. Geez, why did I have to have so many with him? To occupy my thoughts, I focused on trying to figure out where Jerry was taking me. But with Jerry, I wasn't really sure where to start.

Finally, after driving in what seemed like circles for twenty minutes, we finally parked and I took a look out the window. The park. I got out of the car just as Jerry was coming around to my side and I glance at him.

"What are we doing here?" I ask quizzically. He reaches out and grabs my hand in his before leading me onto one of the sidewalks that went through the park.

"I wanted to spend some time with you and since it's nice out, I thought, yo, why not take a walk?" He says. I smile and snuggle up to his arm. A simple walk sounded like bliss. And he wasn't lying, today was really nice. It was still on the chilly side, as expected of late October, but it was a lot warmer than it has been lately because the sun finally decided to shine down on Seaford.

"Hey, you remember that contest we entered a couple of weeks ago?" I look up at Jerry, meeting his excited eyes. I nod. A couple of weeks ago, me and Jerry entered a poem writing contest that a dance studio was holding. The prize was tickets to see an upcoming concert for Bruno Mars so that pretty much drew us in more than anything, albeit it was easy to come up with something since Jerry loves dancing and music and he came up with the ideas while I put it all together into a poem. A grins stretches across Jerry's face as he announces, almost bouncing up and down like a kid, "We won!"

It takes a moment for it to process in my brain. We won. WE WON! I squeal and wrap my arms around his neck, bouncing on the balls of my feet as I do so. I can't believe we actually won. "I can't believe it! When are we getting the tickets?" I ask eagerly. He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out the tickets. I squeal again and take them in my hands to look them over.

"I love you, you know that?" I say with a smirk, looking back up at him.

"What's not to love, chica?" He asks, popping his collar confidently. I roll my eyes, but kiss him anyway. Once I pull away, I grin down at the tickets.

One, two, th..ree...four?

"Wait, there are four tickets here" I say, spreading them all out as I glance at Jerry with confusion.

"Oh yeah, he asked me how many I wanted and I told him two, but then he came back out with the four and said take 'em all" He explains and then shrugs, "I wasn't about to say no, yo. I thought we could bring some friends along"

I pout. "But I thought this was going to be a date!"

"It will be, we'll lose them in the crowd within a minute" He says with a wink. I smile.

"Okay. So, who do you think we should invite?"

"I don't know. Milton and Julie would rather eat their own fingers off then go to a concert. Last time I saw Eddie, he was whisked away by Stacey, and- hey wait. What about Mikaela?"

I grin. "Oh, she's going to love me when I give her a ticket" I say with a chuckle, but a thought strikes me and I frown, "wait, she won't want to go to a concert alone"

"She'll find someone to go with, just give her the other ticket. It's not like we're going to use it" He tells me.

"Yeah, you're right"

We continued for a couple more minutes in silence once the excitement died down a little, and I was just soaking it up. I wish this moment would never end. It was nice to forget about everything that happened in the last couple of days. I sigh contently, closing my eyes as I lean my head on Jerry's shoulder. He starts talking about the new guidance counselor that arrived last week and I felt like I could have drifted off into some deep sleep just by listening to his voice. In fact, I think I nearly did... twice.

I open my eyes. If I kept them closed, it wouldn't help keep me any more awake than lying in bed in a dark room. I take a brief moment to glance around, seeing as the park was busier than normal. A family having a picnic under one of the many big trees, a couple sitting on a bench, Jack walking toward us, an old man f- Wait, WHAT? I did an instant doubt-take and to my horror, there's Jack, and what's worse, HE'S COMING THIS WAY!

I look over at Jerry and relief fills me when I see he hasn't noticed Jack, but the relief only lasts for a fleeting second and then it's replaced with panic. Think, Kim, think! Now was not the time for Jerry to find out about Jack... or any other time... Crap, what am I going to do? I mentally thanked God that Jack was also distracted by his phone.

I look around franticly, the distance between him and us was depleting and the only thing I saw was a hedge maze and- wow, that was convenient. "Hey Jerry, let's go through that" I say with a quick finger point at the maze, and before he even answers, I'm already dashing toward it. He follows along a couple moments later, giving me this quizzical look when we get to it. I don't say anything, I just look behind him, searching for Jack. I sigh in relief when I don't see him. That was close.

I know Jerry's gotta find out about Jack eventually, I mean, they go to the same college so their bound to run into each other some time, but he was not finding out that way.

"Well, do you want to go in?" I turn around and see Jerry already at the entrance, looking back at me with a smirk. I'd rather be safe than sorry I guess, and we're already here so why not. I quickly catch up with him and we go into the maze.

"Do you remember when they put this here?" Jerry asks curiously.

"I didn't even know it was here" I say, taking a glance behind us. Jerry seems to notice.

"Are you okay, Kim?" He asks shooting me a worried look before looking back where I was to see what I was looking at. I look back at him and try to conceal the nervousness in my voice.

"Hey Jerry, can I ask you a hypothetical question?" He nods and I piece together my question, "So, hypothetically, if a certain person who you haven't seen in some years, and you're very mad at, suddenly comes back, what would you do?"

He thinks about it for a second, "Easy, I'd forgive 'em and be friends again"

"That's good to know" I say somewhat flatly. Would he say the same if I said it was Jack?

"What's with a question like that anyway?" Uh... well, the truth is...

"I just felt like asking a hypothetical question like that" I say with an awkward laugh, and once he looks away, I roll my eyes at my answer. Really, Kim, really?

"So," Jerry stretches out after a brief silence, glancing sideways at me, "who is this 'certain person'?"

"Mmmm, nobody in particular" I reply, keeping my voice in check so that it doesn't go high, like it did sometimes when I was lying. Just then, we come to the exit of the maze. Wow, I forgot we were going through one too. I take a quick glance out. We should be safe now.

"Yo, I know you're-" Jerry goes silent so abruptly that I stop in mid-step to look up at him in confusion. His eyes are set intently on something in front of us. I follow his gaze, but I just see a family walking.

"Is something wrong Jerry?" I ask, glancing back at him. He stays quiet for another second or two before he shakes his head.

"Nah, I thought I saw something" He mumbles.

* * *

_Next Day..._

"Dada dada ladidida da da.." I hummed a random tune that was stuck in my head as I enter my dorm room. Tossing my purse onto the couch, I plopped down on the chair and pulled my laptop onto my lap to check my Facebook. I sometimes wonder what the world would do if they shut Facebook down out of the blue. Go back to MySpace probably.

"I AM DONE!" Ah, it seems Mikaela back from class. She walks past me and falls onto the couch, letting her body sprawl itself over the cushions.

"What are you done with?" I ask her curiously, taking a brief second to glance over at her from my computer screen. She muffled something into the couch, as if I could really understand what she was saying. "I have no idea what that means"

She pushes herself up and sits properly on the couch before turning to me, saying, "I said; I had this ridiculously long paper to write and it took me forever, BUT, I just now turned it in!"

My eyebrows rose and I gave her a thumbs up. "Congratulations" She rolls her eyes and gets up, probably taking my tone as a sarcastic one.

"Well, _I_ thought it was an accomplishment" She says, taking her coat off and throwing her stuff in her room. I slide my laptop onto the coffee table and reach into my purse.

"That reminds me, I have something for you" I tell her, taking out the ticket and handing it to her with a grin on my face. She grabs it and looks it over in confusion before her entire face lights up and her mouth stretches into a cheshire grin.

"For real?" She asks, as if she didn't want to get her hopes up in case it was some kind of joke. I nod and she erupts into squeals, bouncing up and down like a little kid too. She pulls me into a hug, though it was awkward because she was still bouncing up and down, and said, "Oh my gosh, I love you so much!"

I chuckle as I lightly push her off of me. "We ended up getting two extra tickets so you can invite someone along if you want. Got anyone in mind?" I ask curiously once she died down to simply grinning at her ticket. She shrugs.

"I don't know. I guess I'll invite the first person I see" She says. Just then there's a knock on the door. "I'll get it"

Mikaela opens the door to reveal a nervous looking Jack. Goodie. I wonder why he's here...

"What's up Jack?" She asks. I find it amazing how she knows it's him without even looking away from that piece of paper.

"I just wanted to talk to Kim" He says more to me than her, his eyes locked onto mine. Mikaela clears a path for him in and closes the door behind him with a smirk.

"No problemo, she's right there" She says, pointing in my general direction. Is she obsessed with staring at that ticket or what? My eyebrows shot up when she just leans against the chair.

"Uh, Mikaela, don't you have to talk with Julie or something?" I ask her, my tone fully implying that I want her to leave. If that wasn't enough, I usher her to the door. She finally looks up and glances between me and Jack before realization dawns on her and she nods.

"Right, right. I'll see ya guys later" With that, she grabs her coat and heads out the door. Once she leaves, silence falls on the room and I turn back to Jack with an inquisitive look.

"Kim, there's been something I've been meaning to tell you for a long time now," He begins and I gesture for him to continue. His mouth opens and closes like a fish a couple of time before he finally sighs. "Kim, I love you"

...What? I know I was expecting him to say the same thing yesterday, which was why I cut him off, but to actually hear him say it. To hear him say those three little words, it's almost... bittersweet feeling. Before he left, those were the only words that I ever wanted to hear from him the most and hearing them now, I feel a surge of happiness, but it lasts just a few measly seconds. I don't feel the same way anymore, and even if I did, I wouldn't break up with Jerry. I love him too.

"Jack, I already told you. I'm with Jerry now, and I don't feel the same way about you anymore" I tell him, trying to remind him of the conversation we had yesterday in case he got some kind of amnesia. He nods.

"I know, and I respect that," He says, "but not telling how I feel was eating at me, and even if you don't feel the same way, I just needed to tell you"

I nod in understanding and after a brief, slightly awkward, silence, I take a deep breath. I was getting tired of all the awkwardness lately. "Look Jack," I say with a sigh, "can we just be friends again and put this awkwardness behind us?" I ask. He smiles.

"I'd really like that" He says, almost beaming at me. I smile back at him, feeling like a ton of bricks were lifted off my shoulders. But there was still something that kept me from truly feeling relieved and better. The comfortable silence is broken when the door opens and Jenny walks in. She sees us and freezes.

"Am I interrupting something?" She asks, uncomfortably. I laugh and shake my head, grabbing my coat and proceeding to put it on. What she said isn't really funny, it's just that Jenny has a bad habit of coming in at the worst times. Like one time, Milton and Julie were in the dorm room experimenting with neck kissing and Jenny bursted in, planning on scaring whoever happened to be in the living room at the time. They laugh about it now, but at that time, it was really awkward.

"Don't worry Jen, you're not interrupting anything" I reassure her, collecting some textbooks and putting them in my bag along with my laptop, "we were just leaving" She looked doubtful, but seems to shrug it off since she nodded and said bye before going back to her bedroom.

"So, where are we leaving to exactly?" Jack asks once we're out the door. I shrug.

"I don't know about you, but I have class in ten minutes with Mr. Boring" I'm not saying that because he always talks in monotone, his last name really _is_ Boring.

"Math.. that's in Gaylord Hall, isn't it?" I nod. "My dorm building is right by there. Mind if I walk with you?"

"Be my guest"

* * *

**I could've left it in a cliff-hanger, but I did that the last chapter and I plan on doing another soon so I decided to just leave it there. Some of this was mainly filler, but it's so that the next chapter can be super awesome ;D Plus, if you look hard, you'll see a hint as to what happens next in this chapter.**

**Like I said in the A/N, as a treat, I'm planning on getting ch 4 up really soon so keep watch (I'm going to start on it after I upload this) and again, please check out my poll on my profile! :D I need 50 votes on one of the stories by the time I finish this so I know what to write next (30 votes for a one-shot and I'll upload it first, then the highest voted afterwards)**

**To be honest, I wasn't really expecting any reviews for that A/N, but after reading them, I just want to thank you guys for being so patient with me! :D And to those who didn't review, but are still looking forward to my updates. :)**

**P.S. I've also got one or two one-shots in mind that I might be posting soon so keep a look out for those too :D**

**You+Review= INSPIRATION for me :D**

**Well? What are you waiting for?**

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